Grand Hotel Season 1, Episode 7: 5 jaw-dropping moments

Grand Hotel delivers a showstopper ending when the Finn Hotel is reduced to rubble, and not everyone makes it out of the wreckage.

The competition between Santiago and Finn reaches a boiling point on the newest episode of Grand Hotel. Finn crosses a line by maltreating Helen. When Helen tells Santiago this, the Mendoza takes off his nice guy gloves and calls in the big guns to take care of the hotel across the street once and for all.

In other tense drama, Gigi is doing her best to show Yoli how accepting she is of her new queer identity. But she fumbles the ball several times along the way. Still, for the first time, we get to see some real growth in this particular mother/daughter relationship when Gigi finally realizes she’s been taking out her anger at Felix on her daughter and apologizes.

This episode was full of jaw-dropping moments, narrowing it down to only five was no easy feat.

5. Oliver isn’t as trustworthy as he seems.

Oliver winds up being a little shady. Maybe this isn’t all that surprising. He is happily working for someone as awful as Finn doesn’t reflect kindly on him for starters. Then there’s the fact he makes a sketchy phone call about ensuring “Alicia doesn’t know anything,” about some secret scheme. Danny overhears it and lets Alicia know.

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Despite not being inclined to listen to anything Danny has to say, Alicia sneaks a peek at Oliver’s cellphone and discovers that the Finn Hotel has swiped El Rey! As the main reason the Riveria Grand Hotel was staying open, Alicia is panicked. She breaks things off with Oliver. She can’t forgive him for this betrayal, and it’s too hard for her to separate herself from the hotel after all.

4. Finn makes a pass at Helen.

When you thought Finn couldn’t get any ickier, he assaults Helen. As if it isn’t bad enough to imply she has to sleep with him to “get in good with the boss,” he then forcibly kisses her. Helen quits her job on the spot, and Santiago is outraged at Finn’s indecency.

Santiago wants Helen to report this incident to the police, but Helen doesn’t want to risk her livelihood for Finn. Santiago isn’t so keen on sweeping this under the rug and goes to Mateo. I’m desperately curious to understand Mateo’s weird mob connections. What is that guy’s deal?

3. Carolina makes a surprising offer to Yoli.

We’re finally making some headway on the relationships between Yoli, Carolina, and Gigi. Gigi and Yoli find some common ground after Gigi apologizes for the way she has treated Yoli over the years.

Carolina is happy to see her mother and sister on good terms and decides now is the right time to drop the bomb about knowing how to find their father. Remember a few episodes ago Gigi’s old friend approached Carolina about her dad? It looks like we’re finally going to get a follow-up on that plot thread.

2. Sky was a drug dealer.

As if the complicated past of Sky Garabaldi had any more room for complications, we learn she was dealing prescription drugs. Danny gets this intel by blackmailing a spring breaker. Even more shocking? Javi has drugs given to him by Sky and is using them to fuel his current downward spiral! So were Javi and Sky friends? Did he get the pills from someone else who knew Sky? This mystery keeps getting more and more twisted.

1. The Finn Hotel goes down.

Now for the biggest jaw-dropper of the episode, perhaps the season, so far. It turns out, Mateo’s connections have a specific set of skills when it comes to “dealing with people.” Death is the answer. The sky deck of the Finn Hotel is unscrewed (side note but what side deck could be taken down, in the middle of a giant party, only by unscrewing a couple of nails? I guess Finn’s workers weren’t lying when they said his permits weren’t approved), by some unseen presence and the entire thing comes tumbling down.

Like, the whole deck falls to the ground. I was pretty shocked. And as fate would have it, Javi and Ingrid were standing underneath it, arguing as the incident happened. Ingrid makes it out of the rubble alive, but the last we see is her shouting for Javi who is nowhere to be found!

Odds & Ends

• Plot-wise, I’m confused about why they moved Ingrid to the Finn only to have her be re-hired at the Riveria in the same episode. Either Ingrid decides to stay there, and there is more to this plot, or they just needed a reason to put her at the Finn during the bridge incident, which I guess is possible, but surely there was a more natural way.

A new episode of Grand Hotel airs Monday, August 5 at 10/9c on ABC.